Will this hurt the life of my engine?
 

I live in Wi and I have an oil cooler but don't want to install it until my warranty runs out in 2 more years. Installing it will void the warranty. Will the summers here hurt the engine since they run kinda hot? gets to about 90 on the hottest day here in summer avg. id say is 80's

Depends on how hot the engine oil is getting. If it stays under 240-250 or so, no worries. Just run a quality synthetic.

will you be tracking? how hard will you be running the car? the oil issue is blown out of proportion. the thing won't just overheat in normal daily driving. not even in the occasional spirited driving. high rpm for some prolonged time on a very hot day might do it.

Who told you that it would void your warranty. If the dealership told you that they are dead wrong. Keep in mind that any modifications that are done to your vehicle have to be proven by Nissan that the actual part caused a defect which is outside of what the warranty will cover. Install it. I haven't installed mine yet but I ran into an issue with an under drive pulley from stillen that I wanted to install. The Nissan dealership near my home said it would void my warranty b/c it might mess up the timing which they are dead wrong. So I called the dealership I bought the car from and they said no it will not void your warranty. Look online there is an actual act that protects "us" consumers when it pertains to a warranty on a vehicle. The dealer must prove that the part is the reason for defect.

Hey man 240-250 is high as well. Anything over 230 is causing damage to the engine. 212 is a normal High temp for the 370z. I run Royal Purple what do you have in yours? About 260 is when I ran into limp mode.

Synthetic oil are fully capable of 300F, that's a fact.

Just b/c I have an oven that can cook things at 500 degrees doesn't mean I should do it to everything I stick in it.

its amazing how people get paranoid about 370z oil cooler.

aftermarket oil coolers are for people that RUNS TRACK. And NOT for daily bases.....unless youre doing some serious downshifting or just like to shift at very high RPM (people who dont know how to take good care of their engine)

You'll be fine even at 100+ degree weather without an oil cooler. If our cars cant even handle in that heat, 370z would not have been produced in the first place.

So dont worry about aftermarket oil cooler, give it a break already jeez.....

I am going to have to disagree with you there bud. I live in NC and the weather can get up to the 100s throw in the humidity and you might as well be in Iraq. I understand not beating a dead horse but at the same time the issue of high oil temperatures would not have been brought up if they were not true.

Where did you get this from?

If you kept the motor at redline with oil temps exceeding 280 F, you'd possibly risk some damage, but even there, you'd probably be okay given how well modern oils hold up against shearing under high temps.

In any case, over 260, the ECU goes into limp mode to prevent damage from happening, so it's not even an issue.

This has been discussed before, but in short 180-220 is ideal, 230 -250 there may be a little loss of power, but still safe, over 260 is not ideal, let it cool down.

Oil coolers should only be considered a necessity if you track your car.

Finally, running hard when the oil is too cold is not good either. 150-160 is good bare minimum temp to really start romping on it.

I swear there's an echo in here :icon17:

VQ engines aren't super expensive, but I would still think an area rep would be called in to inspect the car. All this service-writer he said, she said stuff is worthless.

If it's not in writing, it doesn't matter.

An oil cooler could void the warranty as Nissan could claim the oil was not able to heat up to proper temp and that is why: your bearing spun, your rod was thrown, your valve spring broke, whatever.

It all depends on the position of the moon, the area rep, and Nissan corporate, whether they would warranty that engine or not, but I doubt they would.

I live in Shreveport, LA. 100* and 90% is the rule here for the summer on a cool day. My friend beats the piss out of his car, and doesn't change the oil until the oil-life monitor tells him to. He still only hits 220-240*F on the oil gauge or so. Of course, he doesn't track it. Just driving it in a spirited (destructive?) manner on the street. He makes bank and doesn't care. I have seen him take it over curbs (not scraping, but still) without blinking to flip a U if there is no cross-over. His car has held up and rides like new. I wouldn't worry with it.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Most people try to keep things 210-240 for the track, but if you see 260-280's now and then its no big deal.

I run mobil 1 just because that is factory fill on my car. I only have it serviced at the dealer. However, if I ran it at the track, or if I were to beat on it, I would change out the Mobil 1 for something that wouldn't shear. Probably go with 0-30 Castrol Syntec, or Amsoil. Both are better oils and shear much less than Mobil 1 or Royal purple. If you are running RP's "street" oil (i.e. not their straight weight racing oil), I would encourage you to research your choice a bit more. That stuff shears fast on every UOA I ever saw.

Take the cooler off before taking it to the dealership. A hassle? Yes, but it can be done and no one will ever know you installed it on the first place.

degrees celcius?

90 is the normal temperature mate.

it is always 90 for me. though it do go to 140 during francorchamp and limped the **** out of me.

He is talking about the temperature where he lives. In the states we use *F, because we are different from everyone else when it comes to measurements and yes, it's a pain in the ***. Ever work on a car that uses both metric and standard? yeah. Fail.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. The car is only driven 4 months out of the year and its a daily driven car, but only about 10miles per day.It gets to 240 and pretty much stays there the whole time I drive it.I prolly won't install the cooler then cause in the fall it gets pretty cold here and i don't wanna run it to cold.

Plus if i don't need it i can sell it. It's still in the box never opened it. I also have a gen111 ultra long tube intake in the box from stillen.

Try a set of ARC cool fins first to drop temps a wee bit. Stupid, cheap, and tacky, but works well for a 10-15* F drop.

Behold:

http://www.the370z.com/members/jordo...40606-0000.jpg

I also have two stuck on my diff cover :tup:

I found this oil cooler on the internet.
http://www.fast-autos.net/diecast-ca...0707197715.jpg
I'm pretty sure it won't void your warranty.

:icon17:

You have to realize that people who post on forums generally have some kind of issue with something...in this case oil temp. When you start seeing these threads about people's oil temps getting too high you feel like this is a major problem for everyone, when in fact it is only a small percentage of all 370z owners. Ive driven my car in VA and NC in the summer (temps up to 102 and 100% humidity) and I haven't gotten the oil temp over 220 except one time, it went to like 222 haha.

Unless you plan on pushing the car hard for an extended period of time (Tracking or Autocross) you dont need to worry about it.

I agree. People get crazy just because they can see the oil temp. Unless you are running over 280 degree's daily, I don't think you have anything to worry about. If it is getting higher than that on the street, I'd contact Nissan corporate, because that shouldn't be considered normal... as long as you aren't driving like you are on the track. :)

The absolute dumbest thing Nissan did with the 370Z was to include an oil-temp gauge.

For 99% of the people out there, the only problem that truly exists can be solved by cutting a wire or two.

Agreed. Nissan determined that their bearings will just start to break down somewhere north of 300 degrees due to their constuction technique (reformulated bearings no long use lead for enviromental reasons) so they put a 280 degree safety limit. Cars aren't actually "overheating", the safety system is just kicking in.

Taking the cooler off is simple and can be done in under an hour. If you have a fluid extractor, you can even reuse your oil.

I made a DIY post about a simple cover for the cooler. Just use a sheet of aluminum and some velcro. The car heats up normally in the winter that way.

If you know anything about oil, you will know that oil are actually more efficient at higher temperatures. As long as the engine is built with high tolerances, it shouldn't be a problem running at 200-250F temperature. It's just a by-product of emission and superior oil now compare to 50 years ago.

The Corvette guys been complaining about it for years, people just need to calm down.

This has got to be a forum record for the most misinformation in a single thread.

Nah, there are others that have more bad info...
....well, maybe not...

Even better is just installing a cooler with the correct thermostat setup.

Your temps shouldn't be staying at 240. Try changing your shifting habits. Less engine braking in traffic and changing to a correct gear helps a lot. You shouldn't need an oil cooler at all for normal driving. The outside temp doesn't really have a huge effect on oil temp. Coolant temp maybe, but last summers 100 degree heat had little effect on oil temp. There are add on's to prevent over-cooling also. I forgot what it's called. Just read through the thousands of post regarding oil coolers.

Wait. What? Nissan included an oil temp gauge? I thought that gauge told me how many miles I could go between service visits. :icon14:

Mine tells me to ignore the voices in my head:icon14:

:icon18::bowrofl::icon17:

In AZ, 114 degree summers, my oil gets very hot very fast. Average is about 230 in normal or street driving. I've gotten up to 250 once. In the winter, it's not a problem. Had my oil cooler installed yesterday. Bring on the summer!